Liberia Mission Trip 2023

Going to the airport is a big deal for the kids, but there's not room for all 70 kids. So, it is a tradition at the orphanage that when someone leaves to go to the airport, a heads and tails game is played, where the winner gets to go to the airport.  Our team with Linda, of Hope and Care, at the Monrovia airport. We arrived safely in America Saturday night. Linda makes multiple trips to Liberia each year, as she says the need is great .  Although we are no longer in Liberia, we will still add to the blog until the end of this month.  The team members will present about our journey to our church on Sunday, July 23rd. 

In the morning, we attended the kindergarten graduation for the school. The graduation consisted of students and graduates showing their knowledge in various subjects like history and spelling. This included one student reciting the former presidents of Liberia and another talking about the branches of government. The nearly three hour ceremony included music, dancing, and noisemakers - it was a celebration of education.  The school gave Babita, who is a teacher in the US, the opportunity to hand out certificates to some students.  Presenting the kindergarten graduating class.

On Thursday, we toured the on-campus clinic. One of the doctors that works at the clinic donates his time. He works at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia, but works at the clinic on Fridays for free.  The clinic is open to the community, where nurses see many farm injuries and cases of malaria and other infectious diseases prominent in the area.  This is the Emergency Room.  Here are some photos of the Operating Room.   Another room we saw was the Delivery Room. Initially, there was no air conditioning in this room, but due to the room becoming very hot and uncomfortable, especially for the patient, an AC unit was installed. 

A group picture of all the children.    Everyone in VBS. We loved the past 2 weeks! Throughout the VBS days, the children worked on designing a quilt square. Each square attached to each other through buttons. The quilt showed unity.  The quilt being attached to a wall in the boys dormitory.  Pastor Bob presented Hope and Care Executive Director Linda Kurtz with an elephant mask. An endearing name given to Linda by the Liberian people is elephant because she, like an elephant, plows through any obstacles. 

On Tuesday evening, the mission team attended a dinner at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Pastor Bob and Kristi were recognized by the Lutheran elders for their service to Liberia. Many years ago Pastor Bob baptized Rev. Patrick Nanning as a boy, while establishing a Lutheran ministry in the remote Liberian mountain region.  

On Monday afternoon, the team visited a beach near Monrovia. We had dinner outside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  It was nice seeing the Atlantic from the other side.